The Tanoto Library – Promoting Business Education for Future Generations
In 2005, the Tanoto Library opened at INSEAD, one of the world’s largest and most prestigious schools of business, in Singapore. The Tanoto Foundation, headed by Indonesian billionaire entrepreneur Sukanto Tanoto and his family, works to distribute their wealth among institutions of higher learning, students in need, and underserved populations in Southeast Asia and beyond.
The Tanoto Library offers INSEAD students a collection of works on all aspects of management and business. In addition, its holdings encompass sources dealing with related fields, such as mathematics, behavioral science, economics, political science, law and ethics, and computer science. INSEAD, whose foundations were built in Cold War Europe, today calls itself “the Business School for the World.”
INSEAD’s Singapore campus was constructed in 1999. Its 900-square-meter library was named for Mr. Tanoto in honor of the endowment fund he created for the facility. The Tanoto Library houses some 10,000 volumes transferred from the original European campus’ growing Asia-focused collection in 2005, as well as newer acquisitions. Today, INSEAD consists of three campuses. In addition to those in France and Singapore, it has opened a location in Abu Dhabi, whose library has been melded into the overall university catalog. The three libraries acquire hundreds of new books annually, and together offer students access to thousands of major business-related journals in electronic format, as well as dozens of online databases.
Sukanto Tanoto, who had to end his formal schooling during his teens, is known as a voracious reader and thinker, always alert to new trends in business and related fields. He encourages his executive team members and his family to read, reflect, and share ideas. His contributions to INSEAD reflect his dedication to the pursuit of practical and conceptual knowledge, and his belief that education is a major determining factor in economic and personal success.
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